ThreEwells down to Two Ewells. Therapist, social worker, book-lover, aspiring author and aspiring bookstore owner, avid indie book store visitor and mom of one perfect child who owns my heart.
Showing posts with label 30 days. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 30 days. Show all posts
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Day 23 & 24 Christmas Memory and 5 things I love about Christmas
Wow! It's a very late Christmas miracle that I am blogging again. For the longest time I've been stuck on "Day 22 - A family photo" because I've been meaning to get a new family photo and it just hasn't happened. Hopefully this Spring we will get family photos taken, so I decided to skip that post and move on because, let's be honest, this 30 days of blogging has turned into almost a year! Wow!
Moving on. . .
Day 23: A Christmas Memory:
Childhood - Christmas eve dinner by candlelight, with our own candles clipped to our plates. One year my cousin's hair caught of fire! My parents inviting families, or widows over for this dinner who they knew didn't have family in Utah to share Christmas with.
Waking up Christmas morning. Not being allowed into the living room to see what Santa brought until AFTER all five of us children were dressed, our beds made, have eaten breakfast, and the dishes were done. Talk about torture! Then we were lined up in order of youngest to oldest to enter the living room where Santa had left our gifts.
My senior year of high school, getting Phantom of the Opera tickets, third row. Even though I'd seen in three times I cried I was so excited! It was completely unexpected and exactly what I wanted. (Could someone please do that for me for Wicked!?)
As a child - Going to my Grandma and Grandpa Martin's house to say hello and see cousins. Wearing my coat in the living room, seeing my breath, to play with cousins because the heat was always turned off to save money. The kitchen was always toasty warm if we got too cold because they used their gas oven to heat it. Parting the heavy blanket that hung in the doorway between the living room and the nice warm kitchen and being hit with a blast of welcome warmth.
Going to my Grandma and Grandpa Yospe's for the rest of the day to visit with my father's side of the family and have Christmas dinner. Having my Grandpa Yospe, a former Jew-converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints- and a police officer read The Littlest Angel every year and having him cry every year, which made all the rest of the family cry and not having a dry eye in their house by the end of the book.
DAY 24: Five things I love about Christmas:
1. The anticipation and Spirit of Christ-mas. To me this is the BEST part about Christmas. The waiting for it to happen.
2. Being Santa. It is so fun to be Santa to my own little family now.
3. The food.
4. Being with family.
5. Looking at Christmas lights and window displays.
Moving on. . .
Day 23: A Christmas Memory:
Childhood - Christmas eve dinner by candlelight, with our own candles clipped to our plates. One year my cousin's hair caught of fire! My parents inviting families, or widows over for this dinner who they knew didn't have family in Utah to share Christmas with.
Waking up Christmas morning. Not being allowed into the living room to see what Santa brought until AFTER all five of us children were dressed, our beds made, have eaten breakfast, and the dishes were done. Talk about torture! Then we were lined up in order of youngest to oldest to enter the living room where Santa had left our gifts.
My senior year of high school, getting Phantom of the Opera tickets, third row. Even though I'd seen in three times I cried I was so excited! It was completely unexpected and exactly what I wanted. (Could someone please do that for me for Wicked!?)
As a child - Going to my Grandma and Grandpa Martin's house to say hello and see cousins. Wearing my coat in the living room, seeing my breath, to play with cousins because the heat was always turned off to save money. The kitchen was always toasty warm if we got too cold because they used their gas oven to heat it. Parting the heavy blanket that hung in the doorway between the living room and the nice warm kitchen and being hit with a blast of welcome warmth.
Going to my Grandma and Grandpa Yospe's for the rest of the day to visit with my father's side of the family and have Christmas dinner. Having my Grandpa Yospe, a former Jew-converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints- and a police officer read The Littlest Angel every year and having him cry every year, which made all the rest of the family cry and not having a dry eye in their house by the end of the book.
DAY 24: Five things I love about Christmas:
1. The anticipation and Spirit of Christ-mas. To me this is the BEST part about Christmas. The waiting for it to happen.
2. Being Santa. It is so fun to be Santa to my own little family now.
3. The food.
4. Being with family.
5. Looking at Christmas lights and window displays.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Day 21: A Travel Story.
Wow! I decided to blog on a whim and I am completely unprepared to blog about a Travel Story. And I am especially unprepared for this post to include pictures of any travel I have been on. I'm going to brave it out, even though I am racking my brain to think about a story of my travels that I could share. And I will have to try to add pictures later.
Hmmm. . . A Travel Story?:
I have been a few interesting places in my life: Italy, Switzerland (for the day), Canada (for an hour), Mexico, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt to name a few. I guess I will tell the story of my hike of Mt. Sinai, Egypt.
Once upon a time, . . . (Hey, I am after all telling a travel story!) . . . Once upon a time, when I was just 20 years old I went to Israel for a study-abroad program with Brigham Young University. In this program I learned many things about the Middle East, and part of the program was a field trip to Mt. Sinai.
We arrived by bus to Sinai very late in the evening, maybe 11 p.m. with strict instructions from our professors to go directly to bed at our hotel because they would wake us early in the morning for the hike. Early in the morning turned out to be 2:00 a.m. We had to set out early enough to witness the sunrise over Mt. Sinai. Now this mountain is famous because it is supposed to be the mountain where Moses spoke with God and received the 10 commandments.
We had an option. If we thought we were not able to climb the mountain for the first two-thirds of the hike, we could hire an Arab to lead us on a camel most of the way up the mountain. Out of 120 students only I and one other person decided they needed the assistance. Now, at the time I didn't know I had a chronic heart condition called Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome, which makes strenuous exercise (including steep hikes) very difficult for me. Well, my mother knew I was born with this condition, and I remember going to see doctors as a child for my heart, but as I grew up I began to forget, and would just pass off my inability to do hard things, like running a mile under 12 minutes (never did it) as me just being out of shape.
But I digress. So I'm riding this camel up the side of a very steep mountain. And when I reach the point where the camel is no longer permitted to go, I am told to (in Arabic) that I must get off. I held on for dear life as that camel knelt down. For those who have never ridden a camel, which I'm assuming is probably all of my readers, let me describe how a camel kneels down. First he bends his front knees to the ground, so I was at about a 75 degree angle facing forward and holding on for dear life. Next he bends his back knees, causing me to drop swiftly, and my heart to fly up to my throat. Well, by this point my legs had completely gone to sleep from the long ride, and I have to ask the Arab to drag my sleeping butt off of the camel.
The Bedouin was more than happy to grab my towards him and get in a little squeeze which I was both repulsed by and also so grateful for at the same time.
Now I had to walk up the remaining third of the hike, which was composed hundreds of flat rocks formed into an uneven staircase to the top of the mountain. It was slow-going because of my heart, and nearly everyone who had walked the entire way passed me on the stairs. Now I'm not an invalid. I just have a lot of trouble breathing when I do strenuous activity. You see my heart has these extra ventricles that like to pump my blood in the opposite direction than it is supposed to go. This is triggered by exercising too hard, and results in a symptom much like asthma-slash-light headed, dizziness, feeling like I'm going to faint, and unfortunately, a VERY red face.
But I made it to the top just in time to see the sunrise. It was magnificent. You know how on that movie The Bucket List one of their goals before they die is to "witness something truly magnificent"? Well it was exactly that. Amazing! And as I reached for my camera to take a picture of the beautiful sunrise, over this mountain where God spoke to Moses. . . my battery died and I didn't get a picture! True story.
Also, on my way back down the mountain, the sun was now up and I passed the Arab who had copped a feel, as it were. He gave me a big toothless grin as I passed him.
And also, on my way down the rock-filled path I tripped on these huge boulders, right after thinking to myself "Now be careful and don't trip!" TRIP!!!
And I was stuck. I caught myself by my hands but my legs were resting on a large boulder three feet higher than the rock my hands were apparently trying to push down the mountain. I was stuck and couldn't move to get up. I had to have three people help maneuver me out of that position. Then the nurse had to scrub the debris out of my bleeding palms and bandage them. Fun times. Fun times.
But I did live happily ever after and I am so grateful for the experiences I had studying in Israel and Egypt.
I am including a picture I found off the internet of a sunrise over Mt. Sinai. The sunrise I witnessed pretty much looked exactly like this. Amazing!
Hmmm. . . A Travel Story?:
I have been a few interesting places in my life: Italy, Switzerland (for the day), Canada (for an hour), Mexico, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt to name a few. I guess I will tell the story of my hike of Mt. Sinai, Egypt.
Once upon a time, . . . (Hey, I am after all telling a travel story!) . . . Once upon a time, when I was just 20 years old I went to Israel for a study-abroad program with Brigham Young University. In this program I learned many things about the Middle East, and part of the program was a field trip to Mt. Sinai.
We arrived by bus to Sinai very late in the evening, maybe 11 p.m. with strict instructions from our professors to go directly to bed at our hotel because they would wake us early in the morning for the hike. Early in the morning turned out to be 2:00 a.m. We had to set out early enough to witness the sunrise over Mt. Sinai. Now this mountain is famous because it is supposed to be the mountain where Moses spoke with God and received the 10 commandments.
We had an option. If we thought we were not able to climb the mountain for the first two-thirds of the hike, we could hire an Arab to lead us on a camel most of the way up the mountain. Out of 120 students only I and one other person decided they needed the assistance. Now, at the time I didn't know I had a chronic heart condition called Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome, which makes strenuous exercise (including steep hikes) very difficult for me. Well, my mother knew I was born with this condition, and I remember going to see doctors as a child for my heart, but as I grew up I began to forget, and would just pass off my inability to do hard things, like running a mile under 12 minutes (never did it) as me just being out of shape.
But I digress. So I'm riding this camel up the side of a very steep mountain. And when I reach the point where the camel is no longer permitted to go, I am told to (in Arabic) that I must get off. I held on for dear life as that camel knelt down. For those who have never ridden a camel, which I'm assuming is probably all of my readers, let me describe how a camel kneels down. First he bends his front knees to the ground, so I was at about a 75 degree angle facing forward and holding on for dear life. Next he bends his back knees, causing me to drop swiftly, and my heart to fly up to my throat. Well, by this point my legs had completely gone to sleep from the long ride, and I have to ask the Arab to drag my sleeping butt off of the camel.
The Bedouin was more than happy to grab my towards him and get in a little squeeze which I was both repulsed by and also so grateful for at the same time.
Now I had to walk up the remaining third of the hike, which was composed hundreds of flat rocks formed into an uneven staircase to the top of the mountain. It was slow-going because of my heart, and nearly everyone who had walked the entire way passed me on the stairs. Now I'm not an invalid. I just have a lot of trouble breathing when I do strenuous activity. You see my heart has these extra ventricles that like to pump my blood in the opposite direction than it is supposed to go. This is triggered by exercising too hard, and results in a symptom much like asthma-slash-light headed, dizziness, feeling like I'm going to faint, and unfortunately, a VERY red face.
But I made it to the top just in time to see the sunrise. It was magnificent. You know how on that movie The Bucket List one of their goals before they die is to "witness something truly magnificent"? Well it was exactly that. Amazing! And as I reached for my camera to take a picture of the beautiful sunrise, over this mountain where God spoke to Moses. . . my battery died and I didn't get a picture! True story.
Also, on my way back down the mountain, the sun was now up and I passed the Arab who had copped a feel, as it were. He gave me a big toothless grin as I passed him.
And also, on my way down the rock-filled path I tripped on these huge boulders, right after thinking to myself "Now be careful and don't trip!" TRIP!!!
And I was stuck. I caught myself by my hands but my legs were resting on a large boulder three feet higher than the rock my hands were apparently trying to push down the mountain. I was stuck and couldn't move to get up. I had to have three people help maneuver me out of that position. Then the nurse had to scrub the debris out of my bleeding palms and bandage them. Fun times. Fun times.
But I did live happily ever after and I am so grateful for the experiences I had studying in Israel and Egypt.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Day 20: A Favorite Christmas Tradition
I bet you thought, that since I haven't blogged in almost two months I was going to wait until Christmas to blog about my favorite Christmas tradition. I thought maybe I would too, but no. I actually have an incling to blog and so Christmas came early this year my friends!
My favorite Christmas tradition:
On Christmas Eve my family gathers for a wonderful Christmas feast. We eat by candle-light, and we even have a little candle clipped to our own plates. A little dangerous? Yes. But the Pyro in my loves it! In fact, one year, we had my cousins over for Christmas Eve dinner, and my cousin Susan caught her hair on fire! That was a memorable dinner.
Another Christmas Tradition I loved growing up was going to my Grandparents' home on Christmas night and having my Grandpa read the story of The Littlest Angel and watching him cry every time, and crying along with him. Because how could I not cry when my big, strong, police-officer grandpa was crying like a baby? It was just too tender! It's been a few years since he's passed away. I'm sad my son will never hear my grandpa read The Littlest Angel to him for Christmas. That is a memory I will always treasure.
My favorite Christmas tradition:
On Christmas Eve my family gathers for a wonderful Christmas feast. We eat by candle-light, and we even have a little candle clipped to our own plates. A little dangerous? Yes. But the Pyro in my loves it! In fact, one year, we had my cousins over for Christmas Eve dinner, and my cousin Susan caught her hair on fire! That was a memorable dinner.
Another Christmas Tradition I loved growing up was going to my Grandparents' home on Christmas night and having my Grandpa read the story of The Littlest Angel and watching him cry every time, and crying along with him. Because how could I not cry when my big, strong, police-officer grandpa was crying like a baby? It was just too tender! It's been a few years since he's passed away. I'm sad my son will never hear my grandpa read The Littlest Angel to him for Christmas. That is a memory I will always treasure.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Day 15: The next three things on my bucket list:
The next three things on my bucket list? Hmm. . .
Well one or two things come to mind right away.
Firstly, I want Josh and I to take Walter to Disneyland, which we are planning to do sometime in Spring 2012 with Josh's side of the family. Hopefully by then Walter (who will be around two years old) will be old enough to appreciate and enjoy Disneyland. I can't wait to take him!
Second, a practical one: I want to pay off our car. (Is this really something you feel like I would have to accomplish before I die???) Probably not, but it is something I would like to accomplish before I ever consider being a stay-at-home mom. So I guess number 2 should be: Become a Stay-At-Home Mom one day.
Third, hmm. . . I guess another trip. This time I would like to take Josh (and maybe Walter) to see where I served my mission in Jacksonville, Florida and St. Mary's Georgia. I want to take them to the alligator farm, the Okephenoki Swamp, to Gainesville, to Neptune and Jax Beaches, St. Augustine, St. Mary's, and all the fun places from my mission. I think Josh would love Florida. He's never been. Maybe we would make it a HUGE trip and also go to Disneyworld or a cruise. Of course if we ever go there it won't be for quite a few years since we're working on saving up for Disneyland and to pay off our car right now.
Well one or two things come to mind right away.
Firstly, I want Josh and I to take Walter to Disneyland, which we are planning to do sometime in Spring 2012 with Josh's side of the family. Hopefully by then Walter (who will be around two years old) will be old enough to appreciate and enjoy Disneyland. I can't wait to take him!
Second, a practical one: I want to pay off our car. (Is this really something you feel like I would have to accomplish before I die???) Probably not, but it is something I would like to accomplish before I ever consider being a stay-at-home mom. So I guess number 2 should be: Become a Stay-At-Home Mom one day.
Third, hmm. . . I guess another trip. This time I would like to take Josh (and maybe Walter) to see where I served my mission in Jacksonville, Florida and St. Mary's Georgia. I want to take them to the alligator farm, the Okephenoki Swamp, to Gainesville, to Neptune and Jax Beaches, St. Augustine, St. Mary's, and all the fun places from my mission. I think Josh would love Florida. He's never been. Maybe we would make it a HUGE trip and also go to Disneyworld or a cruise. Of course if we ever go there it won't be for quite a few years since we're working on saving up for Disneyland and to pay off our car right now.
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